


Love Is A Closed, Bolted, Deadlocked Door

by fiveainley_ohmy



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, lot of angry Tegan, seriousish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2018-02-19 14:26:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2391650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveainley_ohmy/pseuds/fiveainley_ohmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A (mostly) non-cracky fic about the Doctor's companions finding out about his relationship with the Master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is A Closed, Bolted, Deadlocked Door

**Author's Note:**

> For my friend on Tumblr, Jennifer (a-choir-of-fallen-angels).

A letter just unexplainedly appeared on the console of the TARDIS.

“Hey, Doctor! Mail call!” Tegan jokingly called, but the Time Lord didn’t answer. “Doctor?” she tried again, but there was no reply.

“Hm,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. She eyed the letter curiously. “What kind of mail does a Time Lord receive anyway? Can’t be a dry cleaning bill.”

Tegan knew it was wrong to peep at someone else’s mail, but she was intrigued. She checked outside the control room to make sure the Doctor wasn’t coming, then grabbed the envelope, slid her fingernail under the flap, and slit it open.

Tegan pulled out a piece of lavish stationary. She sniffed the paper. It smelled like musk cologne. She wrinkled her nose and began reading. As she read further down, her eyes grew wider and wider.

“Tegan?” At that moment, the orange-haired Trion appeared in the room. “What are you-”

“Shush, Turlough!” admonished Tegan. She thrust the letter at him. “Read this.”

Turlough looked at the letter. “Tegan, this is the Doctor’s mail! You shouldn’t be snooping.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” said the Australian dismissively. “Just read it.”

“I don’t feel right about this,” muttered Turlough, but couldn’t resist taking the piece of paper from her and reading it. Then his ears turned bright red. “Oh my.”

“I know,” said Tegan, nodding. “Apparently the Doctor’s in a hot, steamy relationship with someone and they’ve been exchanging love letters!”

“This is...really lascivious stuff,” said Turlough, still reading. His blue eyes were very big. “Quite graphic, actually-”

“Okay, that’s enough,” said Tegan, snatching the letter back. “Come on. We have to find a replacement envelope for this thing.”

“Did it say who the letter was from?” Turlough asked, following his fellow companion to the TARDIS’s office room.

“No,” said Tegan, checking the envelope and the bottom of the letter. “There’s no name. I’m assuming the Doctor knows who it is.”

“Well we can’t ask him,” said Turlough. “That would be admitting we looked at his mail.”

Tegan opened a desk drawer and fished out a new envelope. She stuck the letter inside. Then she licked the edge of the flap and stuck it down. One would have never guessed it had been opened. “We’ll just have to do some detective work.”

Tegan and Turlough managed to replace the letter just before the Doctor came ambling in with fresh cricket whites and slightly dampened hair. He looked happy and sated. “Nothing like a nice warm bath to make a man feel like new,” he said cheerfully to his companions. Then he spotted the letter lying on the controls. Tegan and Turlough didn’t miss how the Doctor’s lightly freckled cheeks turned pink. “Oh! Yes, should’ve been expecting that.” He went over and picked it up. He discreetly sniffed it, then smiled to himself and opened it.

“What is it, Doc?” asked Tegan innocently.

“Oh, just a perennial notice from Gallifrey. I get one every now and then.” The Doctor grinned at the letter, blushing harder.

Tegan and Turlough gave each other knowing looks. Yeah, right. “What does it say?” Turlough said.

“Oh, just the same old tripe; ‘your conduct is unbecoming of a Time Lord’, et cetera, et cetera. I think I’ll read this in my bedroom. No touching the console.” The Doctor barely glanced at either of them as he walked out of the room, nose buried in the letter.

Tegan and Turlough rolled their eyes as soon as their extraterrestrial friend was gone. “Boy, has he got it bad,” clucked Tegan.

“He certainly does,” Turlough agreed.

“We’ve just gotta find out who it is,” said Tegan, smacking her fist against her palm.

“Well, we know that it’s someone who knows how to find his TARDIS,” reasoned Turlough.

Tegan shrugged. “It’s a start.”

 

-

 

“The Doctor once told me he had a friend named Romana who traveled with him,” said Tegan. She and Turlough were brainstorming to try and figure out who the Doctor’s potential lover was. “She was a Time Lord.”

“Isn’t she the one who went to another dimension?” Turlough pointed out.

“Oh, you’re right. Well, maybe it’s Nyssa.”

“I don’t think so,” said Turlough, shaking his head. “It seemed to me that they just had sort of a platonic relationship.”

“True,” said Tegan, leaning back in her seat. “He really became more of a surrogate dad for her after that bastard killed her real father.”

“You mean the Master?”

“The very same,” said Tegan.

“Hmm...what about one of the Time Lords on Gallifrey?” Turlough hypothesized. “They would know how to reach his TARDIS.”

“Yeah, but as far I know, they pretty much hate him.”

“Maybe not all of them do,” said Turlough. “Oh, this is pointless. The Doctor knows so many people and is so damn charming and heroic, it could very well be anyone!”

 

-

 

A week later, the matter had been more or less forgotten (although Tegan still kept an eye out for any more letters on the console), and the TARDIS landed on the planet Gregoria, where they found that the people were under the rule of a sinister and familiar king with a goatee and a flair for leather gloves.

The Master had Tegan and Turlough locked up in the dungeon while the Doctor was escorted away to the Master's private chambers for interrogation. “You monster!" Tegan shouted at him. “You're gonna kill him, aren't you?"

“Never fear, Miss Jovanka. Your beloved savior won't be harmed," the Master leered. “I merely intend to teach him a lesson on what happens to people who defy me."

Tegan wrinkled her nose. The Master smelled strongly of musk. “Ugh. You wear too much cologne. Wait...I know that smell..." Tegan gasped in horror as she recognized the fragrance. “You? You're the one who sent the letter?"

The Master suddenly looked very nervous. “What? I've no idea what you mean."

“Oh my God!” Tegan exclaimed, horrified. “You...and him?! You’re not about to interrogate him, are you? You’re off to shag!”

The Master, in a very flustered state, turned away and hurried out of the cell, the tails of his black coat flapping like a giant bat’s wings.

 

-

 

Tegan sat smouldering in captivity for several hours before the ginger came rushing in. “Tegan! There you are! I’ve got the key!”

“There’s more important matters, Turlough!” Tegan hissed as the Trion fumbled with the lock.

“What? Has the Master poisoned the water supply? Set up a self destruct device on the planet?”

“Worse,” said Tegan, shaking her head. “The Master...he and the Doctor...they’re...”

“What is it, Tegan? Tell me!” Turlough grabbed her by the shoulders. “Is the Doctor in trouble?”

Tegan glared at him. “Oh, he’s in trouble, alright. Trouble with me, that is! Come on. Let’s go find the idiot.”

 

-

 

Once they had saved the Doctor (and the planet), the moment they entered the TARDIS, Tegan rounded on him. “You’ve been shagging the Master!”

The Doctor, startled, knocked over the hat stand by the door. “What? Tegan, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied nervously.

“That’s exactly what he said!” clucked the Australian furiously. “You’re even beginning to talk like him!”

The Doctor sighed and righted the fallen hat stand, hanging his hat on it resignedly. “Alright, Tegan. You deserve to know: yes. The Master and I are...together.”

Tegan let out a noise of both triumph and outrage. “I knew it! I can’t believe that! How could you shag such a terrible person?! Have you forgotten what he did to Nyssa’s people? My aunt Vanessa? He’s evil, Doctor! How could you?!”

“Yes, yes, Tegan, I know, I know all of that, but-”

“But nothing! There’s nothing you can say that would ever make this okay!” Then, Tegan thought of something. “Wait-is this some kind of arrangement? You sleep with him, he doesn’t kill anyone?”

“No, of course not!” The Doctor was aghast. “We Time Lords have a sense of morality, you know. Even the more nefarious ones.”

“Well, then, what is it?” Tegan demanded.

The Doctor sighed and dejectedly put his hands in his pockets. “I love him,” he finally whispered.

Tegan froze. “What did you say?”

“I love him, Tegan.” The Doctor swallowed. “I have ever since we were young. We met when we entered the Academy-”

The Doctor’s words were cut off as Tegan sharply slapped his face. “Tegan!” exclaimed Turlough, who had been staying quiet this whole time.

“Tegan, please,” pleaded the Doctor, rubbing his cheek.

“Don’t talk to me,” she hissed, turning and stamping out of the room.

The Doctor watched her go and sighed tiredly.

“I’m sorry about her, Doctor,” Turlough piped up.

“No, no,” said the Doctor, glumly flicking a switch on the TARDIS console. “She’s right. The Master’s certainly no saint. She has every right to be angry with me.” He looked up at the Trion. “I suppose you disapprove as well.”

Turlough shrugged his shoulders. “Well, you’re right. The Master’s committed some treacherous crimes. And he did kill Tegan’s aunt. I can see why she’d be upset. Maybe it’s just because he hasn’t killed anyone close to me personally, but...” He shook his head. “I won’t judge you.”

The Doctor nodded. “Thank you, Turlough. I appreciate that.” He cast a look toward the door the woman had just stormed out of. “I guess she’ll want to leave now.”

“Oh, you know Tegan,” said Turlough, trying to make it sound like a joke. “She’s always threatening to leave, but she never does.”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “I think she’s really had it with me this time. For all the fighting we’ve done, she’s never been truly angry with me. It was always in good fun, for the most part. I’ve almost come to think of her as a sister. But now...perhaps I’d better go talk to her.”

“Talking out your feelings has never really been your strong suit, Doctor,” Turlough pointed out, as the Doctor strode for the door.

“You’re right,” the Doctor admitted. “However, a wise man once said: ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’.”

“But nothing made worse, either,” muttered Turlough as the Time Lord disappeared. Then he sighed and leaned on the console.

Turlough had put on a brave face when the Doctor was in the room, but the truth was, he was hurt. He’d known from the moment he began to have feelings for the Time Lord, they’d never amount to anything. But that didn’t stop him from wanting the Doctor either. Turlough figured they’d never be together because, well, they hadn’t exactly met under the best of circumstances. Turlough had originally been put up to killing the Doctor by the Black Guardian, after all. That sort of thing did put sort of a strain on a relationship. At least, that’s what he thought. Apparently, the Doctor had no hang ups about sleeping with someone who wanted him dead at all!

Turlough hugged his own scrawny arms. “Ah well...should’ve known, old boy. Someone that wonderful is bound to be taken already.”

 

-

 

“Go away.”

“Tegan, please let me in. I’d like to talk.”

“I said no.”

The Doctor sighed. He pressed the button on the wall beside the door, and it slid open.

Tegan was lying on her bed, arms crossed, staring at the far wall. The Doctor looked around the room, looking for telltale signs of clothes or suitcases. “Not packing, then?”

“D’you want me to leave?”

“Not unless you want to.”

Tegan sat up and glared at him. “I’m considering it.”

“I know.” The Doctor sat down on the bed beside her.

“It’s just...him? Really?” Tegan asked out of frustration. “Of all people? You could have almost anyone, Doc. Why him? It just doesn’t make sense.”

“He wasn’t always evil, Tegan,” said the Doctor calmly. “Like I said, when we were children...” A small, happy smile crossed his face as he remembered days long past, but not forgotten. “He was the most wonderful person I ever knew. I guess he still is,” he added as an afterthought.

“Wonderful? How can you sit there and call the man who killed Nyssa’s dad, my aunt, and so many other good, innocent people, you included, wonderful?” Tegan gestured to the blonde man sitting beside her. “The only reason this person exists is because the Master dumped your last self off of a radio tower! Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

The Doctor nodded. “Of course. You really believe I haven’t thought of all that myself? It was what was keeping me from giving into my feelings for many, many years. But then...there he was, on Gallifrey. Willing to save not only my life, but yours, Turlough’s, Susan’s. And...I thought I saw some of that old good in him he used to have.”

“Yeah. And then he turned right around on you and tried to steal the ring of Rassilon, and kill you all over again. Three times over! Remember that?”

“I...treated him unfairly,” said the Doctor guiltily. “He was honestly there to help me, and I accused him of trickery. Like I always do.”

“So, before Gallifrey...you weren’t with him?” Tegan asked.

The Doctor shook his head. “No. But right before that, in 13th century England, I think he was trying to tell me; he loves me too. After all, the basis of that whole venture was to get my attention, after all.” The Doctor chuckled to himself, as if the Master had done something incredibly cute, like singing him an out-of-key love song or baking him cookies, but then burning them.

Tegan stared at him in disbelief. “I don’t understand your people at all. He goes back in time, tries to disrupt the history of a whole planet, kills some poor nobleman and God knows what else, and you call it love games?”

“Ours is a rather unconventional story, I’ll admit,” the Doctor laughed sheepishly, wishing he wasn’t sitting so that he could put his hands in his pockets like he did, and settled for crossing his legs. “But Tegan...you must understand. He makes me happy.”

“I can see that,” scoffed Tegan. “You haven’t stopped grinning since we started talking about him. You look like a lovesick golden retriever, you know that?”

“Rather specific description of my appearance,” the Doctor mused, cocking his head to the side.

“Don’t change the subject,” said Tegan flatly. “So while he’s shagging you, you’re just going to-what, stand idly by and watch him terrorize the universe and say, ‘Aw, that’s so cute’?”

“Of course not,” said the Doctor. “Don’t you know me by now? I told him I wouldn’t be with him if he continued to carry out such despicable acts. We did what most people do when they both want something: we came to a compromise. He swore to me that he’d refrain from killing or harming people at all costs.”

“Right.” Tegan rolled her eyes. “And I’m sure he’s going to honor that agreement.”

“Oh, he will,” said the Doctor, sternly. “Or I’ll leave him. I won’t tolerate cruelty. You know that.”

Tegan did know that. For as much as a pushover as this Time Lord seemed, Tegan knew and respected the fact that the Doctor was strict in his beliefs, and that if he said he wouldn’t stay with the Master if he took up his evil ways again, he wouldn’t.

She sighed in surrender. “Well...I don’t like it. And I don’t like him, either. But I see the way he makes you feel. And...it’s okay. I suppose.”

“Thank you, Tegan,” said the Doctor, putting a hand on her shoulder, his smile genuine. “You’ve no idea how much that means to me.”

“And just because you two’re bunk buddies, don’t expect me to be nice to him!” Tegan called after the Doctor as he turned to leave. “Hey...Doctor?”

The Time Lord turned around. “Yes?”

“Just out of curiosity...how is he? Ya know...in the sack.”

A wry smile slowly spread across the Doctor’s choir boy face. He merely grinned mischievously at her and walked away.

“Oh, sure, he leaves out the good bits!” Tegan shouted. “ Typical!”


End file.
